On Sunday night, the Bruins moved into the top spot in the Eastern Conference for the first time since Dec. 14. With 89 points, Boston has a one-point edge on the Penguins and three more regulation/overtime wins, although Pittsburgh has one game in hand.

The Penguins have a home-and-home series with the Capitals on Monday and Tuesday, so by the time the Bruins next hit the ice in Montreal on Wednesday, they could be back in second place by as many as three points.

“Hopefully it’s for more than a day,” coach Claude Julien told reporters Sunday after a 5-2 win over the Panthers leapfrogged the Bruins into first. “We’ve worked hard to get ourselves back at the top of the conference. By the looks of it, it’ll probably be a battle right till the end.”

The Bruins are all-but-assured of winning the Atlantic Division and having home-ice through the first two rounds (the divisional playoffs). What's to be determined is if they would have Game 7 at home vs. Pittsburgh in the conference finals.

It hardly mattered that the Bruins didn’t have Game 1 on Causeway Street ice in last year’ series vs. Pittsburgh. They went to Western Pennsylvania and walloped the Pens by a combined 9-1 score in the first two games.

But that’s nine months and multiple defensemen removed. That was with Andrew Ference on the second pairing, and Dennis Seidenberg playing Robin to Zdeno Chara’s Batman.

In that series, Julien stuck Chara and Seidenberg on Malkin’s line. Ference and Johnny Boychuk, along with Patrice Bergeron’s line, clammed up Sidney Crosby’s unit. The Penguins scored two goals in four games.

In the Penguins’ home games, it hardly mattered that coach Dan Bylsma had last change. Julien could throw out Ference and Boychuk and see what Bylsma did, and still be confident that they would hold their own until he got the right guys on.

That confidence won’t be as strong this time. The second pairing will consist of some combination of Matt Bartkowski, Boychuk, Dougie Hamilton and Andrej Meszaros. When the Penguins are at home — and the same goes for the Maple Leafs with Phil Kessel, the Lightning with Steven Stamkos or the Canadiens with Thomas Vanek — there’s more of an advantage to be gained this year against the Bruins.

Although the Penguins don't have the scoring depth of last year — Jarome Iginla, Pascal Dupuis, Brenden Morrow and Matt Cooke are all injured or elsewhere — they still have Crosby and Malkin, maybe the two best players in the game. Defensive strength will be tested.

If it’s even possible, Chara will be asked to do more. Chara averaged 25:56 of ice time per 60 minutes in the conference finals. The captain may be needed for more shifts against Crosby if his less-experienced defensive teammates can’t handle it. Chara, who turns 37 later this month, could play close to 30 minutes a game.

The same would go in a Cup Final with the Blackhawks, Blues and Sharks, who all have capable second scoring lines and could have home-ice advantage on Boston, although the Bruins still have a chance at getting the No. 1 overall seed in the NHL. Winning on Causeway Street will be more crucial than usual in early rounds against teams like the Leafs and Habs.

As the Bruins have become an annual Cup contender in the last five years, there's been a greater emphasis down the stretch on building good habits and being ready for the playoffs rather than pushing for better seeding. The Bruins have made the playoffs in every one of Julien's first six years, but only once (2009) were they the No. 1 seed.

For the most part, that's worked. The Bruins won the Cup three years ago as a No. 3 seed and had home-ice advantage in two of four playoff series. They reached the Final last year as a No. 4 seed with home-ice in half of their postseason series.

It’s different this year. The Bruins would do well to keep their spot in the standings.